


The Road Less Travelled By

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Series: Malec One Shots [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 18:11:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18197615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: What happens when you take everything demon out of the warlock child of a Fallen Angel?





	The Road Less Travelled By

**Author's Note:**

> So, I should be writing my assignment for Uni, which is literally only 1000 words long, but I keep opening up a blank document to write it and starting a new fic instead, so, that's not currently happening, but I still have time. 
> 
> Also, I'm currently writing bits and pieces of my other Shadowhunter fics, but I'm seriously unhappy with all of them, so I don't know when they'll be posted on here. In the meantime, I also have two... maybe three... maybe four One Shots/new fics that will be going up here at some point so...
> 
> I tried to think of an ancient Warlock I could steal from another fandom but I kept only coming back to Morgana/Merlin and they weren't old enough for my purposes, so I created Delphine, and I admit her characterization is a little influenced from the fact I spent the last three days binging Chilling Adventures of Sabrina after work, that shit goes 0 to 100 like super quick...

_Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—_

_I took the one less traveled by,_

_And that has made all the difference._  
~Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

* * *

Magnus honestly doesn’t expect to feel so lost without his apartment, he has other properties dotted around the world but the loft has been home for over a century, it is- **was** his lair. It was the place he imagined sharing with Alec for the rest of Alec’s life, it was the home he imagined he would give to any children he and Alec decided to adopt. It was more than just a loft and truly he hadn’t realized what it would mean to give it away.

He thought all he needed was his magic and Alec, but there’s something else missing and it’s distinctly shaped like his loft. But he can’t truly begin to regret it, not when he feels the magic all but singing under his skin.

Something still feels off, though, and there’s the blood noses and the burning pain in his chest that keep plaguing him that so far he’s been able to keep from Alec, but he won’t be able to keep the secret for long.

* * *

He’s digging up herbs for Izzy in a quaint little field in France when a portal forms beside him and suddenly he’s lying in the dirt, staring up at a familiar face.

“Delphine!” he exclaims, grinning, but the grin fades slowly when he sees the anger burning in her eyes and feels the way her hand presses hard against his chest.

“We have to get this shit out of you! What the hell were you thinking, Magnus?” She snaps at him, and he gasps as he feels the magic, he's only just gotten back, slowly being drawn away.

“Stop, Delphine!”

“You stupid fool, you don’t even know what you’ve become, but instead of trying to find out, you’ll get yourself killed trying to go back to what you were!” Delphine all but screams in his ear, before muttering in a language that was dead long before Magnus’ time.

“Delphine!” Magnus struggles in her hold, his fingers scrambling desperately against her, but she’s older than he is, stronger, she is rooted in her magic, while his is just... there.

“Why don’t I go throw magic into your little boyfriend, see if you’re so keen to have magic back in your life then?” she hisses, finally pulling away when Magnus feels the last of the magic drain away. Magnus scrambles to his feet, glaring.

“I need my magic, Delphine!”

“ _It’s not your magic._ Your magic is _gone,_ Magnus. _Forever._ You need to accept that, understand it, move on.” Delphine yells at him, her chest heaving with her anger.

“But-“

“You fool child!” Delphine exclaims, grabbing hold of Magnus’ hand and pressing a stele into it, Magnus frowns at the stele, as it starts to glow in his grip. Then, with a swipe of Delphine’s free hand, the sleeve of Magnus’ shirt tears away, exposing his bare arm. Delphine grabs Magnus’ hand and forces him to draw the iratze on his forearm, Magnus protesting the entire time, but when the rune is drawn and glowing softly on his arm the protests die in his throat and he stares transfixed at the rune that has suddenly changed his whole life, again. “Your father took your magic, your immortality, but he has no right to the angel blood that flows through your veins, no right to that which he gifted you at birth. He left you the ability to remain connected to the Shadow World, Magnus, and you're out here trying to throw it away.”

“I-I-I’m…” Magnus breathes out slowly, feeling incredibly faint.

“You’re a Shadowhunter, you idiot. You ran off and deliberately poisoned yourself.” She explains, catching him when his legs give way beneath him. “You see, your father was an angel once, those traits still exist within him, and he passes them on to his offspring. The demonic traits he passes on are dominant, but you don’t have those traits anymore.”

“You said that my magic is gone forever.” Magnus asks, gripping tight to Delphine’s arm and trying to breathe through the panic that’s taking root within him.

“You’re not a warlock anymore, you and Lorenzo would know this if he’d taken even a single second to scan you before he went throwing magic at you, but I’ll have words with the boy later.” Delphine says in that way Magnus has always hated, Delphine’s so much older than any of them, they’ve all become her children and she never lets them forget it. “You need to march yourself back to the Institute and throw yourself at your boyfriend’s mercy. He’s the only thing that’s going to save you from the Clave’s interest.”

“But I-I don’t…”

“And when you and that pretty boy of yours are ready to settle down and stop fighting the good fight for… whatever it is the Clave fights for, you march yourself off to the nearest vampire den and you get yourselves turned. Then you find yourselves a Shadowhunter holier than all the rest and you drink their blood so you can walk in the sun.” Delphine says, talking right over Magnus, rubbing his back as he gasps in breath after breath, and staring off into the middle distance. “That's for my sake, not your own. You don’t get to waltz out of my life because you made some stupid mistake.” Magnus laughs and rubs his face, shaking his head.

“Wow.”

“Mhmm, now I’ll portal you home, you find your lover and you pray that he loves you as much as you stupidly love him or I’ll burn his heart out! Love you.” Delphine coos, pressing a gentle kiss to Magnus’ forehead then pulling away, throwing a portal at him. “Visit more often!” is the final thing Magnus hears before finding himself standing in the park outside the Institute. He breathes in deeply and lets it out on a sigh, straightening his clothes and heading inside, before he does something stupid like have a breakdown in the middle of the park in full view of Shadowhunters and mundanes alike.

* * *

He finds Alec frowning most adorably at paperwork on his desk, Magnus leans in the doorway for a moment, just watching him until Alec looks up, sees him and smiles.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Alec asks, as Magnus fully steps into the office and closes the door behind him, crossing to Alec's desk.

“I was out being taught a lesson.” Magnus explains and holds up his arm, Alec stares, does a double take and frowns.

“What?” Alec exclaims, reaching out and grabbing Magnus’ wrist, running his fingers over the rune. “How?”

“Turns out, I’m not actually a warlock anymore.” Magnus answers, feels strangely unmoored as he says the words. He’s always been a warlock, was born a warlock, lived a warlock’s life and thought he would eventually die a warlock’s death, even without his magic, he still thought-but that’s not the case anymore. “Dad’s a fallen angel, he can’t take the angelic traits from me, even though they came from him, but the magic and the immortality are demonic, so they’re fair game for him.”

“That-that’s amazing, Magnus.”

“Yeah, until your Clave finds out.” Magnus murmurs, pulling away from Alec and going to sit down on the floor in a corner of Alec’s office. “Before I was just a Downworlder inhabiting Shadowhunter space. Now I’m a Shadowhunter who was a Downworlder, as far as they know, that hasn’t happened before.”

“Actually, since you’re from Asmodeus and not connected to Raziel the Clave technically has no control over you. You _aren’t_ a Shadowhunter.” Alec states, crossing to sit down beside Magnus, bumping their shoulders. “All Shadowhunters descend from Raziel in some form, because of the Mortal Cup, because of Jonathan Shadowhunter. But the only claim you have to Raziel is through your father, whose claim is dominant over you because he’s the direct angelic link. I mean, the Clave can do whatever the hell they want, but if they obey our own laws, you are not a child of Raziel, therefore, the Clave cannot control you because you are not bound by the Accords and you are not bound by any oaths or blood ties to the Clave.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, the Clave will want to keep you onside now, since you’re the most powerful Nephilim we have.” Alec says, with a smirk.

“Excuse me?”

“The closer you are to the angel whose blood runs in you veins, the stronger you are. Jace and Clary aren’t true born children of Ithuriel, so they’re powerful, but not as powerful as you are.”

“Would you consider that to mean I’m the holiest of Shadowhunters?” Magnus asks, frowning in thought.

“Yes.”

“Interesting.” Magnus whispers, Delphine's words sounding in his ears. ' _Y_ _ou march yourself off to the nearest vampire den and you get yourselves turned. Then you find yourselves a Shadowhunter holier than all the rest and you drink their blood so you can walk in the sun.'_

“What?”

“I am still processing, ask me later.” Magnus dismisses the thoughts, before a smile forms on his face. “So, my body is practically a blank canvas…” Magnus murmurs, giving Alec a suggestive little grin as he changes the subject completely. Alec laughs and pushes himself up onto his feet, holding his hand out to pull Magnus up.

“Suddenly, I have the rest of the day off.”

“I thought that might be the case.” Magnus agrees, before pulling Alec down the winding halls to Alec’s bedroom, stopping just outside. “Do we put a sock on the door or something?” he asks, turning to frown at Alec, having not paid any attention at all to whether Alec had done anything the night before to indicate to the rest of the Institute they didn’t want to be disturbed.

“We’re civilized people here, Magnus. We have runes for this.” Alec tuts at him, pulling the door closed so he can draw an intricate rune over it, then he pushes the door back open, ushers Magnus’ through into the bedroom and slams the door shut behind them. “Now, everyone knows not to disturb us unless the world is ending.”

“Oh, good, so we’ll have ten minutes, then?” Magnus asks, seriously, before bursting into laughter at Alec’s tired sigh. “Better make the most of it.” Magnus continues, starting to strip out of his clothing.

“I love you.”

“I’m aware.” Magnus acknowledges, dropping his clothing on the floor and crawling into the middle of the bed and lying spreadeagled on his back, smirking at his lover. “When you’re finished marking me, I’ll show you just how much I love you back.”

“Mhm, going to hold you to that.” Alec murmurs, clambering onto the bed and twirling his stele between his fingers. “Now, lie back and think of me.”

“Always.

**Author's Note:**

> Magnus is going to go and have a breakdown at a later point, since his magic was so integral to his sense of self, and now he knows it's gone, forever. However, before then, he's going to solider on and pretend like he's embracing his new life as a Nephilim... I may write a sequel... (who am I kidding, I most likely will)


End file.
